News

Men’s Basketball Defeats Trine on the Road 81-66 - Retains Share of First Place in MIAA Standings

Thursday, January 14, 2010

ANGOLA, IN - Calvin stretched its win streak to three games and retained a share of first place in the MIAA standings with an 81-66 victory over Trine Wednesday night at Trine’s Hershey Hall.

Calvin remains tied with Albion at 3-0 in the MIAA standings. Albion handed Kalamazoo its first conference defeat of the year on Wednesday, defeating the Hornets 64-55, leaving the Knights and Britons alone in first place.

Calvin (8-6 overall, 3-0 MIAA) used a blistering first half offensive shooting performance to roll out to a 52-33 halftime lead. Calvin shot 56.3 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes including 6 of 13 (.462) from three-point range.

Seniors John Mantel and Matt Veltema led the first half charge with 12 and 11 points respectively.

“We really had a good first half,” said Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek. “We did a very good job of attacking their full court press that got us going and I think we also did a good job of finding holes in their zone in the half-court.”

Calvin maintained a comfortable margin throughout the second half, leading by as many as 23 points.

Freshman Tom Snikkers led Calvin in scoring with 18 points which included his first collegiate dunk. Mantel was close behind with 17 points while Veltema had 14 points and junior Trent Salo 10 points with Salo matching a career scoring high at Calvin.

Calvin finished the game with a 41-29 rebounding advantage led by senior Paul Campbell who ripped down seven rebounds off the bench.

“I’m really proud of Paul,” said Vande Streek. “He has really stepped up his play for us. We played some zone defense tonight and I thought he did an outstanding job in helping our zone be effective. He has long arms and gets his hands in the passing lanes and he also does a great job of getting to the glass.”

Calvin also held a sizable advantage at the free throw line, converting 20 of 23 (.870) at the charity stripe led by Mantel who 9 of 10 at the line. Conversely, Trine was just 3 of 4 at the free throw line.

Calvin will now turn its attention to a home Saturday matchup against Adrian at 3 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.